Fifty Kopeks Matzoth Tariff Ruling is Final State Moscow Authorities

April 9, 1929

Moscow (Apr. 8)

The payment of fifty kopeks per kilogram duty on matzoth imported to Soviet Russia is a final ruling, was the statement made by the Commissariat of Trade to the correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here.

The fixing of the tax at five kopeks per kilo by Shevtzov, the Soviet trade representative in Riga, was unauthorized and was due to the fact that he did not wait for the final decision of the Moscow authorities. That is how the misunderstanding arose concerning the three carloads arriving at the Latvian border, when the authorities demanded an additional duty of 45 kopeks per kilo.

The agitation in the Soviet press over the importation of matzoth continues. The “Comsomolskaya Pravda” in an editorial published today protests against the authorities granting permission to import unleavened bread for the Passover holiday.

The paper sees in the importation of matzoth a political importance, declaring that thousands of tons of matzoth now available on the market are valued at four million roubles. Since the tariff and all expenses have been paid abroad, “it means that Jewish religious bodies in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics are receiving material support from abroad to the extent of four million roubles.”